Cute Kittens!

Summer Parades

Since it is so hard to find time to post, I am going to try and at least get some pictures on the blog for you. Then you will know more about what's going on in our lives and on the farm.

Our family has been participating in parades this summer. Actually it's something we do every summer. Since Mike is the chair for the Meeker County Republicans, we have the opportunity to serve our community, to some extent, through local politics. The children enjoy helping with the parades, and also helping the candidates during election time.

Here are some pictures from the parades. They have helped with two.....four more to go!

The Absent-Minded Mechanic

Our family recently rented an old movie called "The Absent-Minded Professor". The movie has lots of good clean humor, which the children thoroughly enjoyed. Emily and I had to laugh at how the movie very accurately portrays a man involved in a project. The professor could think of nothing else (not even his own wedding) until he had solved the problem he was working on. "Just five more minutes...", he'd say.
When Brandon is working on one of his shop projects, he can think of nothing else. You may think he is listening to your conversation, but his brain will be working away solving a problem with one of his engines. So we have dubbed him, "The Absent-Minded Mechanic". :)

Brandon and I have something in common.....our love for junk! Neither of us can really see the potential in the other one's junk, and we would both argue that our junk (my antiques and his motors) is not junk! Yet we both enjoy browsing garage sales and flea markets for unwanted treasures.
Not only does Brandon enjoy fixing things, he's also very good at it (thanks to Mike's tutoring). He has a mind for creating things, and for problem solving. Sometimes he and Mike will go on and on, mulling a problem over, thinking of all the possibilities, until they finally figure out the solution. It's funny to listen to because it all sounds like gibberish to me.

When he was little he always amazed me with his inventions. Brandon was famous for saying, "Dad I should invent a ______ that does _____!" And then Mike would respond, "That was already invented." Someday he will invent something new........you just wait! :)

When Brandon was fifteen he bought a mini bike, and that was the beginning of his love for repairing motorized things. With help from Dad, and lots of browsing through repair manuals, he slowly began to acquire and fix lots of junk. Buying broken things, fixing them, and reselling them became the pattern. He now has his own junk yard. :( But we have put limits on how big it can get. :)

Eventually friends began to ask Brandon to repair things for them. When we built our new barn Mike graciously provided him with a concrete pad and space to do his repairs. So Brandon now has his own shop to run his small engine repair business. If you have equipment that needs fixin' or would like to purchase used small engine equipment give him a call.

Saying Good-bye

Last Friday we sold Polly and Dandy to a couple that also have an organic farm. It was very hard for the children to see them go (they had so much fun playing with them), but they were happy to see them go to a good home.

Animals come and go on the farm. Some are sold, some are eaten, and some die. It's all part of farm life, and our children understand that well. But they do enjoy the animals, and it's always hard to say good-bye. :)

Kittens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by, Emily :)

I recently gave away my kitten, Blessing,to a friend of mine. Lady was pregnant again, and I was waiting anxiously for the kittens arrival. :) Well, 6 days after I gave away Blessing, me and Brandon were going out to milk the goats at 6:00am in the morning. I walked into the barn and began calling Lady. (The evening before she had looked suspicious to me, so I was curious how she was doing that morning.) She didn't answer. That either meant she wasn't there, or ....she had kittens. For some reason, she never answers me when she has just had her kittens...I don't know why. I knew she HAD to be there, though, because she ALWAYS is there for her early-morning snack of goats milk. So I began, first, to look under all the hay feeders. While looking under the LAST one, I saw SOMETHING moving. ....I couldn't tell what it was, but then I figured it out....it was Lady, and she was licking SOMETHING. I yanked open the door into the small sheep lambing pen, and dropped onto me knees, looking under........sure enough, one, two, three, four, FIVE kittens! I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!! :) I yelled to Brandon and he replied "You're kidding!" Yep....there was five of them, all squealing and nursing. Some of them were dry, and some of them were quite wet. Well, four of them were orange.....FOUR! And ONE was black! ....very black, at that.....not one single hair of white on its body! Well, I "checked" them all, and they were all BOYS! Needless to say, we got done milking in record time that morning.....half the time of what it normally takes! (I went VERY fast!) Well, I stayed with Lady through the morning, 'cause I was SURE I could feel another kitten in her. Probably about half an hour later, she started pushing. Out came another kitten....and yes, it was ORANGE, and it was a BOY!!! :) I couldn't help but laugh. Then I had to go in, but I was SURE I felt ANOTHER kitten in her! So, I went to check on her.....I was thinking that there was nothing new, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw a brand-new kitten! For those of you that don't know, I ended up naming Blessings brother Rascal. :) Sadly, he died....we think he was maybe killed by a chicken. :( (when he was a week old.) :( Well, this new kitten was TINY ....especially compared to it's brothers! And it is the EXACT image of Rascal! All the same markings! Dark gray and Black striped....and it's SOOOOOOOOOO adorable!!!!!!!! And you won't believe it, but it was a BOY! :0 :) Well, all seven of them are doing just peachy, and they're SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!
If anyone is interested in an adorable kitten, let me know and I'll reserve one for you ....and I'm also looking for suggestions for BOY kitten names!!!!! :)
MEOW! :)

Friends

When we lived in the city we were surrounded by people, yet we hardly ever saw or talked to our neighbors. They lived only FEET from our house and we were almost perfect strangers. Not all our neighbors were strangers, some were good friends, but it seems odd to me now to think about being so close, yet so "far away" from people.

You would think that living in the country would be much of the same...not so! It's the strangest thing. We live in the middle of "nowhere", and there are people everywhere! I looked at the calendar and we have had people at our house seventeen days out of the thirty days in June! Of the thirteen days that we did not have company, nine of those days we were either at someone's house, or with people somewhere.

I always used to dream of the "old-fashioned" neighbors visiting neighbors scene, and wish I could make that a reality in my life. But unexpected company would always stress me out! Well, the Lord really felt I needed to grow in this area, and last summer He just started sending people to my house. Over time I've adjusted to the idea, and now it almost feels normal.

People stop over for all kinds of reasons. Some are invited guests that stay for a meal, others come for our "Friday on the Farm", some stop over to bring a "dead" lawnmower for Brandon to fix, others are dropping off/picking up something, some are just coming for a cup of coffee and a chat. All are welcome, and usually a welcome break from work (some days it takes a few minutes to adjust.......just being honest). :)

Today was a day I was hoping for NO company. I woke up knowing it was going to be a challenging day. Mike would be gone, on business, all day, and the list of jobs to get done was long! I started out my day full of ambition and determination, but it didn't take long for the discouragement to set in. By 9:00am I was calling Mike for advice. At about 10:00am the phone rang..... "Hi Mindy, I am bringing my family over today...." I held my breath, and thought that I may be changing my plans for the day. "....we want to help you do whatever you need to get done today. If you want us to pick strawberries, we"ll do that. Whatever you need done. We will be there for an hour or two." I couldn't believe it! I just about burst into tears right on the phone! What a blessing!

So our precious friends came over, and we worked together in the garden. We got so much done in such a short time. Many hands make light work! And it was so much fun to work together! Then we had lunch together, and they went home. I was so blessed by their deeds that it just made me want to go out and do the same thing for someone else.


Having people in our lives is such a blessing. What is life without relationships? That is life! Our relationship with Jesus Christ and our relationships with each other are all we have to take from this life. And what a blessing it is when we can lift each others burdens! Thank God for friends!